Cameron Boozer leads the Duke Blue Devils in nearly every column on the stat sheet, with the most points, assists, rebounds, and steals per game for the No. 4 team in the nation.
Despite all of that, and the fact that the Blue Devils are 19-1 overall and undefeated against ACC opponents, ESPN spent Saturday morning knocking Boozer down a peg or two.
When ESPN College GameDay tipped off the morning from Lawrence, ahead of No. 13 BYU versus No. 14 Kansas, the cast did a blind ranking of the top five freshmen in the country. When Boozer's name came up, they put him at No. 3, despite the No. 1 spot being available.
ESPN continues to devalue Cameron Boozer
With 23.5 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.8 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game, how could you say that Boozer isn't one of the best players in the entire league? Much less the best freshman in the country.
Ahead of Boozer, the ESPN cast ranked BYU's AJ Dybantsa first and Houston's Kingston Flemings second, with Kansas' own star freshman Darryn Peterson not even appearing as an option for the ranking.
For better context, Dybantsa has averaged 23.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. Flemings has averaged 17.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.9 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game.
So, quite literally, how could you rank those two ahead of Boozer? Other than a slight edge in a category or two, Boozer greatly outpaces Dybantsa and Flemings on average.
Not to mention, Boozer has played Duke's incomparable schedule, which has included eight ranked matchups so far. When College GameDay aired from Lawrence, Houston had played in five ranked games and BYU was about to play its fifth ranked opponent in Kansas.
Simply put, the ranking was disrespectful to Boozer, and the young Blue Devil star continues to prove that he deserves more respect than he has been given.